Unlimited04's LJ Build

[Unlimited04]

Update!

The current state:

Rocky Mountain National Park

It drives wonderful, better than stock! In fact, the other day on the highway playing follow the leader, I looked down and was going 85mph. I thought...damn this drives nice at 85mph for a lifted Jeep! Only issue is a very slight steering harmonic/shimmy at 49-50mph ONLY. I'm guessing its very slight difference in tire balance, a result in the change of scrub radius or maybe the other wheel bearing is on its way out. Could also be because one tire has more tread than the other, who knows.... I can definitely feel the difference in caster, especially with the steering wheel being quite a bit easier to turn. I can see this making over-correction on the highway a bit more cautious. I'd like to get back to 5.5* or so of caster eventually...but its no biggy since it drives great now. The lift did settle about an 1", and sits slightly nose down with the engine skid & rockers on - just the way I like it. I haven't taken my hard top off this year , but it may raise the rear quite a bit...guess i'll find out next year Also did a half-arsed job at changing my brake fluid since it was at 4-5% moisture. Brakes a bit better, probably down to 2-3% or so now.

Oh, and this is an elk from RMNP

[glockster]

so.....you recommending Firetone's lifetime wheel alignment?? I need to get that done now that everything has settled on my lift.

[Unlimited04]

Originally Posted by glockster

so.....you recommending Firetone's lifetime wheel alignment?? I need to get that done now that everything has settled on my lift.

yea, it seemed like a good deal to me. I did it because I don't have the room, the patience nor the inclination to do it myself. Plus, they will do caster if you have adjustable control arms, or get them in the future. They will even realign your Jeep if you swap to completely new axles. heck you can convert to IFS later and they'll still align it for free. if you bust a tie-rod wheeling in another state, you can put a new tie-rod on in their parking lot, drive it in and have them align it again...for free. just make sure to carry the receipt with the lifetime code in your glovebox.

[Unlimited04]

Don't forget to vote! Choose the Winner of my Giveaway!!!

hopefully you vote for me

[Airdoc]

Originally Posted by glockster

so.....you recommending Firetone's lifetime wheel alignment?? I need to get that done now that everything has settled on my lift.

I can second the Lifetime Alignment by Firestone - I have it on 3 vehicles now..and whenever I want an check or change (for my BMW track car)..they do it.

It's a money saver as long as you keep your vehicle...if you swap/sell your vehicles alot....not such a good deal.

[jeepfreak4life7]

I hate you. You have the build specs I want to do, and you live in a beautiful state. I hate SOCAL :


Now that you've go some time behind the new tranny, is it better or worse? And did that reprogramming trick work?

[Unlimited04]

Originally Posted by jeepfreak4life7

I hate you. You have the build specs I want to do, and you live in a beautiful state. I hate SOCAL :


Now that you've go some time behind the new tranny, is it better or worse? And did that reprogramming trick work?

how can you hate SoCal? I hear its beautiful! Crowded, with too much traffic, but still you've got ocean...I really miss the open water of Lake Erie

I'm not to sure about the tranny...it worked great for about two weeks, it felt like i had more power (maybe better transmission of power with no slippage??). But I recently heard a loud snap noise, could have been anything really, radio was on full blast and i was driving around trash in the parking lot, with gear bouncing in the back...so who knows. I could have run over a water bottle or anything. I just had a feeling it was the same snap ring again, but have no evidence...no slippage, nothing. It kinda shutters when I try to accelerate full throttle from a stop - which it did before the rebuild, and i assumed was normal, but this didn't happen directly after the rebuild. I haven't even gone 3k miles, haven't been off pavement and if its busted again, i dunno what to think. Guess I'll keep driving it until 69k, then have the stealership drop the pan. If anything is wrong....it will be rebuilt again....

It still shifts into OD at 45mph. It still shifts into 3rd to quickly from 2nd. I just keep the OD OFF, and push it when I want to use OD above 55mph. I gained about 1mpg overall w/ OD OFF - via Scangauge I get 20-22mpg @ 45mph in 3rd, and 17-18mpg in OD @ 45mph. Why Jeep thinks their programming is more fuel efficient I'll never understand.

[Happypappy]

Would either drop by or at least call the Svc. Mgr at that dealership and let him know the trans may have issues again and make him at least acknowledge the call and message. Wouldn't hurt.

[Unlimited04]

Good shot of the undercarriage:


Snow wheeling is getting here:

^^thats my friend's Chaser Adventure Trailer. That thing is just plain freakin' awesome.

Pretty:

[LGriffith]

Snow?!?!

[Unlimited04]

Originally Posted by LGriffith

Snow?!?!

yup we camped in it too. Temp was around 24-26*, with some wicked wind. I did NOT pitch my tent. I slept diagonally in my Jeep for the first time

Finally got my cam bolts installed today. Eyeballed it, then drove to the nearest Firestone for my free lifetime alignment. Waited in line forever, but found out I got my caster to 5.7*/6.0* (D/P). Toe was messed up somehow...was nearly straight at 0*.

Would going from 4.0* to 6.0* caster cause toe to move out 0.28* (total)??? Either that or my lift is still settling .

Steering wheel return-to-center is much better, much smoother at highway speed, far less wander, but still a slight harmonic vibe at 50mph. When I hit a horrible bump @ 65mph in the construction zone/torn up highway, the Saturn in front of me almost lost control and my Jeep almost went into DW, but it only wobbled about 4 times, progressively decreasing and stopped as soon as I took my foot of the gas.

Cam bolts installed:


Pinion angle still looks good:


Next up...finding a ZJ tie-rod and fixing the JKS front track bar issue.

[2006sport]

were the cam bolts worth it? Was the caster that bad when you didn't have them?

[Imped]

Changing the caster will result in a slight change of your toe due to the rotating of the axle changing the relative distance between the knuckle mounting points and the pitman arm. Very slight, but noticeable.

[Unlimited04]

Originally Posted by ZachTJ06

were the cam bolts worth it? Was the caster that bad when you didn't have them?

these are Zone Off-Road cam bolts from Ebay. I don't have the $500 ish required for Rokmen arms at the moment, so these will work indefinitely if necessary. The stock arms aren't that bad, they're pretty strong for what they are. Mine aren't bent, so I've really got no reason to change.

Keep in mind I'm a perfectionist. I didn't like the wander and how easy it was to over-correct on the highway with 4.0* of caster. I also wanted to eliminate my slight steering harmonics at 50mph. I didn't get a chance to give a good, long distance, quality test @ 47-50mph with the new toe & new caster, but with ~0* of toe and 6.0* of caster it was still present.

It definitely drives better, and it was doing pretty good before. Its two fingers on the steering wheel on the highway, still has a slight pull to the right...same as it did bone stock .

So yes, for under 3" of lift, I'd say they are definitely worth it if you don't have a reason to replace your stock arms. They do their job, and they're very easy to install

[2006sport]

Thanks unlimited. BDS recommends em for my lift, but i'm gonna see how it is before i buy them.